July 4, 2007

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done, in whom his world rejoices; who from our mother's arms, hath blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given, the Son and him who reigns with them in highest heaven; eternal Triune God, whom earth and heav'n adore; for thus it was, is now, and shall be, evermore. Amen.

Thanks Oriscus.The organ is from Garritan, but the boys choir is from EastWest Symphonic Choirs. (Garritan doesn't yet include a vocal effect, even a classic "Ah" choir... tho' that's promised in a future incarnation).Symphonic Choirs is, to my mind, about 80% "there" and is great for comping and pieces where absolute clarity is less important than the overall effect. It's a bit tedious to use, as the Wordbuilder function requires a lot of tinkering -- though for those up to it you can improve the replication perhaps up to 90% -- also easier with a Latin text than English. Its major drawback is the voice ranges in the sections -- the boychoir range is o.k. by itself, but the ranges for the adult voices are unhelpful (Sop starts at A above mid-C; bass tops out at A below mid-C! East West knows of these complaints, but there are limits on the amount of data the Native Instrument playback can use. (Garritan uses the same playback, so it's easy to mix and match).

That being said, it's a good tool and after a lot of work. I'm using Finale (a long time user) and can recommend Garritan without qualification! Most of the other music on the blog is synthesized with Garritan P. O., augmented in a few cases with some Kontakt or Kompakt sounds. I've never used Sibelius but understand it to be superb. Finale has the problems inherent in a program that "evolved" and I wish they'd do an overhaul at some point.

Tobias, several years ago, I attended a small Episcopal church in the little town where my husband grew up in central Louisiana. We have the small farm that he inherited there, which we use as a weekend getaway.

I could see the electronic organ from where I was sitting, and when the service started, the organ began to play, but no one was playing it.

I was disconcerted and distracted, wondering whether such a small church had two organs, one which I could not see. The service was lost to me as I pondered the ghostly organ sounds.

About a third of the way through the service, it dawned on me that the organ was electronic and could be programmed to play without a living soul at the keys.

My Contribution to the Listening Process

"a book that honors the Word of God, the faith once delivered, and moves it into our cultural context."—The Episcopal New Yorker

"seeks to meet opponents on their own ground, assessing their arguments carefully and refuting them courteously.... The value ... lies not in its conclusions alone but chiefly in the way Haller reaches them. Whoever is charged with compiling ... resources [on same-sex relationships] will want to add this book to the list."— The Anglican Theological Review